Urban Decay knows how to play to people's needs to collect and hoard their Naked series eyeshadow palettes.
I mean, is "Smoky" even in the some category as Naked? The Urban Decay Smoky Palette ($54) is supposed to help you create a variety of "smoky" looks and is chockful of dark, shimmery, and generally office inappropriate shades.
But look, a packaging update! It's not a nasty cardboard felt or a tin with questionable hinges! This packaging is gorgeous, sturdy, and snaps shut magnetically with a large mirror and dual ended blending/smudging brush inside. I think it's the best brush included yet.
They included 4 shimmery shades, 4 very dark shades, and 4 mattes. I have to say that the shimmery shades on the far left are wonderful but the mattes, while soft and pigmented, are not as buttery as other brand's. Even their Pulp Fiction matte palette impresses me more than these! I'll get to the literary analysis later, so don't worry for now.
Look, there are tips and tricks for smoky eyeshadow look noobs are included on a thick stock paper/pamphlet inside the box. I actually think that's very helpful because even the more experienced makeup users may have a hard time with color pairing, placement, and blending techniques.
There were complaints of the colors being "muddy" on many blogs and I felt the same when I swatched it in stores, but quickly realized that thousands and thousands of grubby swatching fingers had violated the pans turning them into hard bricks of mud and bacteria. Lovely.
While the palette doesn't miss the mark with every color, I do see why there were bad reviews when the palette was first sent out the Youtubers and bloggers.
First of all, none of these colors scream UNIQUE! or MUST HAVE! for me besides Smolder (the blackened plum) and Armor (I have a weakness for silver glitter.) If you have the original Naked palettes, I'm sure you can create smoky looks within themselves just by using a dark matte brown or black.
Second, the matte dark brown is too dark for me while Combust is too light and cool...is it too much to ask for a mid-toned warm brown in every palette? No? Aside from that, I do like Password and think it's lovely for crease work in smoky looks. You can't expect it to be all mid-toned.
As for the darkest shades, they contain varying amounts of sheen/micro-glitter that's more flattering and easier to blend than true mattes. The only truly warm shades in this palette are Dirtysweet and Radar while the rest are neutral to cool. I really appreciate this as many have complaints of Naked 1 and 2 being "too warm" for their liking.
I didn't see any issues with chalkiness though these shadows are pressed much harder than other UD palettes. It may *feel* dry to swatch and skip on the skin but they aren't patchy on the lids. The shimmers took one pass while the mattes took 3 passes. I would suggest using a slightly less tacky primer or going in with one of the lighter mattes first before laying down other colors.
So pretty!
My final thoughts? Blend, but don't overblend. Lay down color strategically and don't try to layer the darker colors directly on top of each other. Also, lay down the matte into the crease and blend thoroughly before adding the lid color. Stick to one shade or two shades from each category and you won't look punched in both eyes. Though the mattes are not as "buttery" and on par with some of the newly released mattes in the market, you'll still be able to create gorgeous and stand-alone nude and smoky looks with this palette.
TLDR: Buy if you don't have any of these colors (I bought for Armor, Slanted, and Smoulder) and skip if you already have dupes.
xo Be
